Notice2026-05451
General Conservation Plan for the Alabama Beach Mouse; Categorical Exclusion; Baldwin County, AL
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 20, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from each of Kitty Bowden, Tracey Thompson, and Douglas J. Spurling (applicant/applicants) for three separate incidental take permits (ITP) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act under the Service's approved General Conservation Plan (GCP) and final environmental impact statement for the Alabama beach mouse. A GCP is a conservation plan under the ESA that enables the programmatic permitting and conservation process to address a defined suite of proposed activities over a defined planning area. Each applicant requests an ITP to take the federally listed Alabama Beach Mouse incidental to the construction of deck additions, a single-family home, and a pool with deck in Baldwin County, Alabama. We request public comment on these applications, which include each applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), as well as on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may qualify under the terms of the Alabama beach mouse GCP. We certify that each of the applications received is statutorily complete and include the necessary information to enroll in the GCP.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 54 (Friday, March 20, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 54 (Friday, March 20, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13608-13609]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-05451]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2026-0232; FXES11140400000-267-FF04AL4000]
General Conservation Plan for the Alabama Beach Mouse;
Categorical Exclusion; Baldwin County, AL
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce
receipt of an application from each of Kitty Bowden, Tracey Thompson,
and Douglas J. Spurling (applicant/applicants) for three separate
incidental take permits (ITP) pursuant to the Endangered Species Act
(ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act under the Service's
approved General Conservation Plan (GCP) and final environmental impact
statement for the Alabama beach mouse. A GCP is a conservation plan
under the ESA that enables the programmatic permitting and conservation
process to address a defined suite of proposed activities over a
defined planning area. Each applicant requests an ITP to take the
federally listed Alabama Beach Mouse incidental to the construction of
deck additions, a single-family home, and a pool with deck in Baldwin
County, Alabama. We request public comment on these applications, which
include each applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), as
well as on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed
permitting action may qualify under the terms of the Alabama beach
mouse GCP. We certify that each of the applications received is
statutorily complete and include the necessary information to enroll in
the GCP.
DATES: Comments will be accepted on or before April 20, 2026. Comments
submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see
ADDRESSES, below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on the
closing date.
To ensure your comment is received and considered, you must submit
it using one of the methods identified in the ADDRESSES section of this
document. Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this
document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be
considered.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be available
for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2026-0232 at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Comment Submission: All submissions must include the docket number
[FWS-R4-ES-2026-0232] this document. You must submit comments using one
of the following methods:
<bullet> Electronic Submission: Federal eRulemaking Portal at:
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. In the Search box, enter FWS-R4-ES-2026-
0232, which is the docket number for this action. Then click the Search
button. On the resulting page, you may submit a comment by clicking on
``Comment.'' Please ensure that you have found the correct document
before submitting your comments.
<bullet> U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R4-ES-2026-0232, Policy and Regulations Branch, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church,
VA 22041-3803.
Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this
document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be
considered. We will not accept comments via email, fax, or hand
delivery. We are not required to consider comments that are submitted
after the comment period ends or that are submitted via a method
outside of these instructions. Comments containing profanity,
vulgarity, threats, or other inappropriate content will not be
considered.
We will post all comments at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. You may
request that we withhold personal identifying information from public
review; however, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. See
Public Availability of Comments for more information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Lynn, by U.S. mail (see
ADDRESSES), by telephone at 1-251-538-2065, or via email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6a1d030606030b0735061304042a0c1d19440d051c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="fd8a949191949c90a291849393bd9b8a8ed39a928b">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the United States who are deaf,
deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711
(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services.
Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make international calls to the point-
of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), announce receipt of an application under the approved
General Conservation Plan (GCP) for the Alabama Beach Mouse from Kitty
Bowden, Tracey Thompson, and Douglas J. Spurling for an incidental take
permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act, as amended (ESA; 16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Each applicant requests an ITP to take the
federally listed Alabama Beach Mouse (ABM; Peromyscus polionotus
ammobates). One applicant will take ABM incidental to the construction,
maintenance, and operation of a deck and pool addition, one will take
ABM due to a deck expansion, and one will take ABM incidental to
construction of a single-family home in Baldwin County, Alabama. We
request public comment on the applications, on the applicants' HCPs,
and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed ITPs
may qualify for a categorical exclusion under the General Conservation
Plan (GCP) and final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for the ABM
published on March 28, 2012 (FWS-R4-ES-2012-N063).
Proposed Projects
Permit Number: PER22978544
Kitty Bowden, applicant, requests a 50-year ITP to take ABM via the
conversion of 0.007 acres (ac) of occupied nesting, foraging, and
sheltering habitat incidental to the construction of a deck expansion
to an existing house on a 0.145-ac parcel located at 330 Buchana Ct.
West in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The applicant proposes to mitigate for
the take of ABM through an in-lieu fee of $676.20 to the Alabama
Coastal Heritage Trust's ABM conservation fund.
Permit Number: PER22254010
Tracey Thompson, applicant, requests a 50-year ITP to take Alabama
beach mice via the conversion of 0.056 ac of
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occupied nesting, foraging, and sheltering ABM habitat incidental to
the construction of a single-family home on a 0.140-ac parcel located
at 8400 Zeanah Road in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The applicant proposes to
mitigate for the take of ABM through an in-lieu fee of $5,609.70 to the
Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust's ABM conservation fund.
Permit Number: PER23007373
Douglas J. Spurling, applicant, requests transfer and modify an
existing 30-year ITP to take Alabama beach mice via the conversion of
0.016 ac of occupied nesting, foraging, and sheltering ABM habitat
incidental to the construction of a pool with deck to an existing house
on a 0.451-ac lot located at 2177 Ponce de Leon Court, Gulf Shores,
Alabama. The applicant proposes to mitigate for the take of ABM through
an in-lieu fee of $1,619.20 to the Alabama Coastal Heritage Trust's ABM
conservation fund.
Our Preliminary Determination
The Service has made a preliminary determination that reasonably
foreseeable effects of the applicants' proposed projects, including the
construction of a deck with a pool and a single-family home and
associated infrastructure (e.g., electric, water, and sewer lines),
would have a minor effect on ABM and the human environment. Therefore,
we have preliminarily determined that the proposed ESA section
10(a)(1)(B) permit would meet the requirements of the GCP and FEIS.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments to
determine whether to issue the requested ITP. We also will conduct an
intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate
the effects of the proposed take. After considering the preceding and
other matters, we will determine whether the permit issuance criteria
of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service
will issue ITP number PER22978544 to Kitty P. Bowden, ITP number
PER2254010 to Tracey Thompson, and ITP Number PER23007373 to Douglas J.
Spurling.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that
your entire comment, including your personal identifying information,
may be made available to the public. If you submit a comment at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, your entire comment, including any personal
identifying information, will be posted on the website. If you submit a
hard copy comment that includes personal identifying information, such
as your address, phone number, or email address, you may request at the
top of your document that we withhold this information from public
review. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Moreover, all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, will be made available for public
disclosure in their entirety.
Authority
The Service provides this notice under section 10(c) of the
Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing
regulations (50 CFR 17.32), National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), as amended, and the Department of the
Interior's implementing regulations (43 CFR part 46).
Jeffrey Powell,
Acting Field Supervisor, Alabama Ecological Service Field Office, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-05451 Filed 3-19-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 20, 2026.
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